AN ENCOUNTER.
Believing his only enemies were those whom he had seen driving up the
road, Jack paid no attention to anything in front of him, save when it
was absolutely necessary in order to guide his footsteps, but kept his
eyes fixed upon the dusty highway.
Owing to the straggling line of bushes, he was forced to make a wide
detour to reach the barn unseen by any travellers, and he had not
traversed more than half the required distance when a loud cry from a
clump of alders which bordered the duck pond caused him to come to a
full stop.
"Hello, Hunchie! What are you doin' here?"
Jack looked up quickly in alarm, fancying the voice sounded like Tom
Pratt's, and for an instant believed his pursuers had apparently
continued their journey only for the purpose of taking him by surprise
in the rear.
There was no person in sight, however, and during a few seconds he stood
motionless, trying to decide whether it would be safest to run directly
toward the farmhouse, or attempt to make his escape through the fields.
Then the question was repeated, and before Jack could have fled, had he
been so disposed, three boys came out from among the alders, approaching
very near as if to prevent flight on the part of the hunchback.
"Who are you?" one of the strangers asked, "an' where did you come
from?"
"I'm Jack Dudley."
"Where do you live?"
"I'm stayin' over to Aunt Nancy Curtis's awhile," Jack replied
hesitatingly, doubtful if it would be well to give these not
over-friendly looking boys all the information they desired.
"What are you doin' there?" another of the party asked.
"Helpin' 'round at whatever she wants done till the summer boarders go
away."
"Oh! So you're the hired man, are you?" the first boy said in a sneering
tone.
"I ain't so very much of a man; but I reckon I can do her work, an' I
mustn't fool 'round here, for I'm pretty busy this mornin'."
"You'll stay till we find out what right you've got to run across this
field," the boy who had first spoken said decidedly. "We've always done
Aunt Nancy's chores, an' you're makin'a big mistake by takin' our job
away."
Jack looked once more toward the road to make certain Farmer Pratt and
his son were not returning.
Then he glanced in the direction of the house, hoping Aunt Nancy might
be in sight, for he understood from the tone and attitude of the
strangers that they were bent on mischief.
Not a person could be seen, and he had no other alternative save to
remain where he was until such time as the boys should be willing to let
him pass.
Any attempt at flight could have been easily checked, since, owing to
his deformity, he was not able to run as fast as others of his age.
Probably he felt just a trifle frightened; but he stood his ground
boldly, determined not to let the strangers see a show of weakness, as
he said,--
"I didn't come here to take any feller's job. Aunt Nancy gave me a
chance to stay this summer, an' I jumped at it, 'cause there's no boy
needs a home more'n I do jest now."
"Well, see here, Hunchie," the elder of the party replied in a
threatening tone, "we don't know how much you need a home, nor we don't
care; but there's one thing certain, you ain't goin' to stay 'round here
this summer." "Us fellers can do all Aunt Nancy's chores an' a good deal
more. The job belongs to us. If you say you'll leave before night, it'll
be all right, an' if not, we'll thump the life out of you."
[Illustration: "Does that mean you ain't goin' to leave?" And the boy
advanced threateningly with clinched fists, until he stood within a few
inches of the deformed lad.--Page 55.]
"Perhaps that can't be done," Jack said calmly, with an assumption of
courage which was far from natural.
"Last summer there was a feller come snoopin' 'round to help on the
summer-boarder business, but he soon found it wasn't safe to steal jobs
from them as lives here the whole year. We jest about killed him."
"Why didn't you stuff his skin an' set it up on the road here, so's
other fellers would know enough not to stop?" Jack asked in a sarcastic
tone as he stepped back a few paces toward a thicker clump of bushes,
where it would be impossible for the strangers to make an attack from
the rear. "You can't be any tougher than you look, an' I guess I'll be
able to keep on livin' till summer's over, even if I do stay."
"Does that mean you ain't goin' to leave?" And the boy advanced
threateningly with clinched fists until he stood within a few inches of
the deformed lad, who now understood that a fight was inevitable.
"It's pretty nigh the size of it," Jack replied; and despite all
efforts, his voice trembled slightly, for he knew full well it would be
impossible to hold his own against three bullies. "But before beginnin'
the row I want you to understand one thing: if I don't work for
somebody, I've got to live out of doors, for I haven't a cent. I ain't
sayin' but the three of you can lick me, of course, but you'll have to
do it every day in the week before I'll leave this farm."
Perhaps the bully was a trifle ashamed for threatening one so much
smaller than himself, and deformed, for, instead of immediately striking
a blow as at first had seemed to be his purpose, he drew back a few
paces to hold a whispered consultation with his companions, after which
he said,--
"Look here, Hunchie, we're willin' to give you a show, but won't allow
no fellers 'round takin' away money we could earn as well as not. Aunt
Nancy's always hired us to do her chores when the city folks was here,
till she got that feller last year, an' then the old fool said she'd
never pay us another cent jest 'cause we didn't jump spry enough to
please her. Now we're goin' to show that it's got to be us or nobody.
We're willin' to wait till to-morrow night if you say you'll go then.
There's plenty of jobs up Old Orchard way, so there ain't any need of
your feedin' on wind."
"Why don't you go there?"
"'Cause we don't want to. This is where we live, an' anything that's to
be done 'round here belongs to us. Now cross your throat that you'll
leave before to-morrow night, an' we won't say another word."
"I'll go an' see what Aunt Nancy thinks about it," Jack replied, not
with any intention of obeying these peremptory demands, but in order to
escape from what was a very awkward predicament.
"You won't do anything of the kind! Promise before leavin' this place or
we'll thump you!"
"Then thump away, for I won't go," Jack replied determinedly as he
backed still farther into the bushes and prepared to defend himself as
best he might against such an overwhelming force, although knowing there
was no question but that he would receive a severe whipping.
"Give it to him, Bill!" the boys in the rear cried. "You can polish him
off with one hand, so there's no need of our chippin' in."
Bill did not wait for further encouragement.
Jack's defence was necessarily very slight, and before he was able to
strike a blow in his own behalf, Bill had him on the ground, pounding
him unmercifully, while his companions viewed the scene with evident
satisfaction.
Jack made no outcry: first, because he feared that by bringing Aunt
Nancy on the scene the fact of Louis's being at the farm would be made
known; and, secondly, he fancied Farmer Pratt might be near enough to
hear his appeals for help.
Therefore he submitted to the cruel and uncalled-for punishment without
a word, although every blow caused severe pain, and when Bill had
pummelled him for fully five minutes the other boys interrupted by
saying,--
"Come, let up on him! That's enough for the first, an' if he ain't out
of town by to-morrow we'll give him another dose. Let's cool him off in
the pond."
Jack struggled in vain against this last indignity. It was a simple
matter for the three boys to lift and throw him half a dozen feet from
the bank into the muddy water.
There was no danger the little fellow would be drowned, for the duck
pond was not more than two feet deep, and as his assailants ran
hurriedly away he scrambled out, presenting a sorry sight as he stood on
the firm ground once more with mud and water dripping from his face and
every angle of his garments.
Jack was as sore in mind as he was in body; but even while making his
way toward the house he did not neglect any precautions which might
prevent his being seen by Farmer Pratt.
He skirted around through the straggling line of alders until he reached
the rear of the barn, and then, coming across crumple-horn's yard, he
was confronted by Aunt Nancy, who had just emerged from the shed.
"For mercy's sake!" the little woman screamed, raising her hands in
dismay as she surveyed the woe-begone Jack, who looked more like a
misshapen pillar of mud than a boy. "Where _have_ you been, and what
_have_ you done to yourself? It _is_ strange that boys _will_ be forever
mussing in the dirt. I thought I'd had some bad ones here, but you beat
anything I ever saw! Why, you must have been rolling in the pond to get
yourself in such a condition."
"Yes, ma'am, I have," Jack replied meekly as he again tried to brush the
mud from his face, but only succeeded in grinding it in more deeply.
"What's the matter with your nose? It's bleeding!" Aunt Nancy screamed
in her excitement; while Louis, who was sitting on the grass near the
broad doorstep, crowed and laughed as if fancying she was talking to
him.
"Three fellers out there tried to make me promise I'd go away before
to-morrow night, an' when I wouldn't, they gave me an awful poundin'.
Then the fun was wound up by throwin' me in the pond."
"Three boys!" and Aunt Nancy's tone was an angry one. "I'll venture to
say William Dean was among the party; and if he thinks he's going to
drive off every decent child in the neighborhood, he is mistaken. I'd do
my chores alone, and wait on the city folks too, before he should come
here again!"
Then Aunt Nancy peered in every direction as if fancying the evil-doers
might yet be in the vicinity where she could punish them immediately,
while Jack stood silent, if not quite motionless, wiping the mixture of
blood and mud from his face in a most disconsolate manner.
Aunt Nancy's anger vanished, however, as she turned again toward the
cripple.
All her sympathies were aroused, but not to such an extent as to smother
her cleanly instincts.
"Did they hurt you very much?" she asked solicitously.
"They wasn't any too careful about hittin'," Jack replied with a feeble
attempt at a smile, to show that his injuries were not really serious.
"If there hadn't been more than one, I'd have hurt him some before he
got me into the pond."
"I wish you had flogged every single member of that party in the most
severe--No, I don't either, for it wouldn't be right, Jack. We are told
when anybody smites us on one cheek, we must turn the other also; but
it's terrible hard work to do right sometimes. I'm glad you didn't
strike them, though I _do_ wish they could be punished."
Again Aunt Nancy showed signs of giving way to anger, and one could see
that a severe conflict was going on in her mind as she tried to obey the
injunctions of the Book she read so often.
As if to turn her attention from vengeful thoughts, she immediately made
preparations for dressing Jack's wounds.
"If you can stand a little more water," she said, "we'll try to get you
into something like a decent condition."
"I reckon I can stand almost anything after the dose I've had," Jack
replied grimly; and Aunt Nancy led him under the pump, stationing him
directly beneath the spout as she said,--
"Now I'll wash the mud off; but if the water feels too cold let me know,
and we'll heat it."
"I'll take it as long as you can keep the handle goin'," Jack replied as
he bent his head and involuntarily drew a long breath preparatory to
receiving the expected shock.
Aunt Nancy could pump a long while when it was for the purpose of
removing dirt; and during the next five minutes she deluged Jack with
the cold spring water until he stood in the centre of a miniature pond,
no longer covered with mud, but dripping tiny streams from every portion
of his face and garments.
Sitting on the grass near by, Louis clapped his hands and laughed with
glee at what he probably thought a comical spectacle designed for his
own especial amusement.
It was not until Jack had been, as he expressed it, "so well rinsed it
was time to wring him out," that either he or Aunt Nancy remembered the
very important fact that he had no clothes to replace those which were
so thoroughly soaked.
"Now what _are_ we going to do?" Aunt Nancy asked in dismay, as she
surveyed the dripping boy, who left little rivers of water behind him
whenever he moved. "You haven't got a second shirt to your back, and I
can't let you remain in these wet clothes."
"I might go out to the barn an' lay 'round there till they dried," Jack
suggested.
"Mercy on us, child, you'd get your death of cold! Wait right here while
I go into the attic and see if there isn't something you can wear for a
few hours. Don't step across the threshold."
This last admonition was unnecessary.
Short a time as Jack had known Aunt Nancy, he was reasonably well
acquainted with her cleanly habits, and to have stepped on that floor,
which was as white as boards can be, while in his present condition,
would have been to incur the little woman's most serious displeasure.
He was also forced to remain at a respectful distance from Louis, who
laughed and crowed as if begging to be taken, and while moving farther
away he whispered,--
"It wouldn't do at all to touch you when I'm so wet, old fellow, but
I'll lug you around as much as you want as soon as I'm dried off. After
Aunt Nancy comes back, I'm goin' to talk with her about Farmer Pratt,
an' see if she'll agree to say we ain't here in case he calls. You an'
I'll be in a pretty hard box if she don't promise to tell a lie for
us."